Download BEHAVIORISM JOHN BROADUS WATSON (1878

BEHAVIORISM
JOHN BROADUS WATSON
(1878-1958), American psychologist. John Broadus Watson was born in Greenville, South Carolina and
educated at Furman University and the University of Chicago. 1908-1920 Psychological Laboratory at
Johns Hopkins University. founder and leading exponent of the school of psychology known as
behaviorism, which restricts psychology to the study of objectively observable behavior and explains
behavior in terms of stimulus and response. Animal Education (1903), Behavior (1914), Behaviorism
(1925; revised ed., 1930) and Psychological Care of Infant and Child (1928).If he is given a dozen healthy
infants he can make them into anything you want them to be, through making stimulus-response
connections through conditioning.
BURRHUS FREDERICK SKINNER
-American psychologist -pioneering research on learning and behavior. -discovered important principles
of operant conditioning, a type of learning that involves reinforcement and punishment.
A strict behaviorist, Skinner believed that operant conditioning could explain even the most complex of
human behaviors.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in overt behavior.
STIMULUS-RESPONSE THEORY
( S-R THEORY)
• Pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond
REINFORCEMENT
-the key element in Skinner’s S-R Theory.
-a reinforcer is anything that
strengthens the desired response
• POSITIVE REINFORCER - Is any stimulus that is given or added to increase the response
• NEGATIVE REINFORCER- Is any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response
when it is withdrawn or removed
• PUNISHMENT
• Is a consequence intended to result in reduced responses
* Skinner also looked into EXTINCTION OR NON-REINFORCEMENT: responses that are not reinforced
are not likely to be repeated.
•
Shaping of Behavior
•
An animal on a cage may take a very long time to figure out that pressing a lever will produce
food. To accomplish such behavior successive approximations of the behavior are rewarded
until the animal learns the association between the lever and the food reward. To begin
shaping, the animal may be rewarded for simply turning in the direction of the lever, then for
moving toward the lever, for brushing against the lever, and finally for pressing the lever.
•
BEHAVIORAL CHAINING
•
Come about when a series of steps are needed to be learned. The animal would master each
step in sequence until the entire sequence is learned.
•
Reinforcement Schedules
Once the desired behavioral response is accomplished, reinforcement does not have to be 100% ; in fact
it can be maintained more successfully through what Skinner referred to as partial reinforcement
schedules. Partial reinforcement schedules include interval schedules and ratio schedules
FIXED INTERVAL SCHEDULES -The target response is reinforced after a fixed amount of time has passed
since the last reinforcement
VARIABLE INTERVAL SCHEDULES- This is similar to fixed interval schedules, but the amount of time that
must pass between reinforcement varies.
FIXED RATIO SCHEDULES- a fixed number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement may
recur. Ex. The bird will be given food (reinforcer) everytime it presses the bar 5 times.
VARIABLE RATIO SCHEDULES- the number of correct repetitions of the correct response for
reinforcement varies. Ex, the bird is given food (reinforcer) after it presses the bar 3 times, then after 10
times, then after 4 times. So the bird will not be able to predict how many times it needs to press the
bar before it gets food again.
*Variable interval and especially , variable ratio schedules produce steadier and more persistent rates of
response because the learners cannot predict when the reinforcement will come although they know
that they will eventually succeed.
IMPLICATIONS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING
1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus)-answer (response) frames which
expose the student to the subject in gradual steps.
2. Require that the learner makes a response for every frame and receives immediate feedback
3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and hence, a
positive reinforcement.
PRINCIPLES DERIVED From Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is
particularly effective.
2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced
(“shaping”)
3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”)
producing secondary conditioning